Friday, January 04, 2013

Eight Carolinas courses have landed spots in Golf Digest's prestigious list of the top 100 golf courses in the United States, four of them located in the North Carolina mountains.
Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey tops the new list followed by Augusta National Golf Club. To see the complete list go to http://golfdig.st/10UJYcE
The Carolinas courses in the top 100 are:
No. 21: The Ocean Course, Kiawah Island
No. 22: Wade Hampton Golf Club, Cashiers
No. 40: Pinehurst No. 2
No. 67: Eagle Point Golf Club, Wilmington
No. 89: Diamond Creek Golf Club, Banner Elk
No. 92: Mountaintop Golf Club, Cashiers
No. 96: Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island
No. 98: Grandfather Golf and Country Club, Linville.
I'm surprised that Pinehurst No. 2 isn't ranked higher, especially after the brilliant restoration work done by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore. It's likely to jump after the U.S. Open is played there in 2014.
Tom Fazio's work around here is obviously respected. He designed Wade Hampton, Eagle Point, Diamond Creek and Mountaintop.
Obviously, this is a subjective ranking based on evaluation by a group experienced course raters. Solid cases for the inclusion of both Quail Hollow Club and Charlotte Country Club could be made.

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comments:

Golf Digest's lists are always a joke. Eagle Point and Diamond Creek are two of the most overrated golf courses in the counry. At best, Diamond Creek is the third best golf course in Avery County. Grandfather and Linville are both much better golf courses. I'm really not sure that Eagle Point, Diamond Creek or Mountaintop are even top 10 courses in North Carolina. Charlotte CC is much better than any of them. Quail Hollow is much better than any of them. Old Town is much better than any of them. Linville GC is much better than any of them. The list goes on. I'm just surprised they didn't include the other highly overrated course in NC; Old Noth State.

I agree that Pinehurst #2 should be higher. Country Club of North Carolina or Linville GC are better than Charlotte CC and Diamond Creek. Diamond Creek very exclusive, not a great layout. Golf Digest might not be aware of the Old Edwards Club in Highlands - one of the best layouts and condition. Might be better than Wade Hampton. It is all subjective, if the course give the Golf Digest people a few free rounds, helps a lot.

These lists are such jokes, involving politics and ridiculous outdated measures like an "available caddie program". It essentially comes down to whatever really rich guy (or group of guys) wants to stroke their own ego and play the game for the right for inclusion.

If you're a serious golfer then you know the tremendous amount of amazing golf that doesn't make any list, which makes lists like this even less viable.

Talk about overrated, Wade Hampton is it. This is only ranked highly due to the membership it employs. Mountaintop is hands down the best Fazio course in NC, considerably better than Diamond Creek. Grandfather and Linville are timeless and should always be ranked in the top 5 in NC. As for the one guys comment about Old Town, he must be a member there. That course wouldn't make the top 20 in the Triad.

These ratings are the work of people who have never played these courses. In Charlotte we have several fine courses including Charlotte, Quail and Carmel but Carolina is as good of a golf course as any of them.

A lot of the courses in Charlotte get good reviews because of the membership of the clubs. Pound for pound none of them are better golf courses than Carolina. That is why the members of these other courses call to secure tee times there...especially Charlotte and Myers Park.

Carmel South is better than Charlotte says the person who has never played Charlotte...

I think the only people who would put Carmel South ahead of Charlotte are members of Carmel, and even then, most of them wouldn't. The new holes on the South course are better, but they are not better than the worst holes at Charlotte. The old holes on the South Course are still bad. Think about it, at Carmel South #2 is a bad hole, #7 is a bad hole, #8 is a terrible hole, #9 is a bad hole, #11 is a bad hole, #15 is a bad hole, and #16 is a terrible hole. Conditions, layout, green, etc are no comparison. Carmel South is also a worse golf course than Quail, Carolina, and Myers Park. If you want to include Gastonia, it's worse than Gaston too.

Having been a member at a "prestigious" private, I am saddened that so many of the picks in the list are private. Makes me long for the days of no Fazio (who in thier right mind puts railroad ties on a golf course?) and more Donald Ross...at least he took the time to build public courses.

I love the Mountaintop & Diamond Creek experience, however, both courses really do not compare to Grandfather. Grandfather is the most consistantly solid golf course I have played other than Seminole. I believe these list tend to be more about their memberships, views, dramatic holes, etc; when it should be about the golf course 1 thru 18. For this reason I would rank Grandfather above any course in the state other than maybe #2....I haven't played since the latest renovations but really like what Crenshaw & Coore did there.

What tees are you playing at Carmel? senior? Lady's? Carmel South from the two back tees is by far a better course than Charlotte and I have played them both multiple times. There is only one true bad hole, #11, at Carmel and several at Charlotte. Last 4 finishing holes at Carmel can not be beat.